Checkers (American/English Draughts)

Overview

Checkers is a classic 2-player strategy game played on the dark squares of the board. Capture all of your opponent's pieces or block them so they cannot move.

Setup

• American (default): 8×8 board, each player starts with 12 pieces on the dark squares of their first 3 rows.
• International: 10×10 board, each player starts with 20 pieces on the dark squares of their first 4 rows.
• Red moves first.

How to Play

Tap one of your pieces to select it — legal destinations will be highlighted. Tap a highlighted square to move. Tap the selected piece again to deselect it, or tap another of your pieces to switch selection.

Moving

• Men move diagonally forward one square onto an empty dark square.
• Kings move diagonally in any direction (forward or backward) one square.
• In International mode, kings are "flying kings" that can move any number of squares along a diagonal.

Capturing (Jumping)

• If an opponent's piece is diagonally adjacent and the square beyond it is empty, you must jump over it to capture it. Captures are mandatory.
• After a capture, if the same piece can make another jump, it must continue jumping (multi-jump). During a multi-jump you cannot switch to a different piece.
• American: Men can only capture forward. If a man reaches the back row during a multi-jump, the turn ends immediately and it becomes a king.
• International: Men can capture both forward and backward. The maximum capture rule applies — you must choose the path that captures the most pieces.

Promotion

When a man reaches the opponent's back row, it is promoted to a king (shown with a ♔ crown). Kings can move and capture in all diagonal directions.

Winning

You win by either:

• Capturing all of your opponent's pieces, or
• Blocking all of your opponent's pieces so they cannot move.